'78 Steering Wheel Resto?

[cajunz]

I'm in the process of cleaning up my steering wheel. It had a worn out leather cover on it and when I removed the cover, I found out that the foam cushion on the wheel has an area about 5 inches long where the foam has peeled away, leaving the wheel about half the original diameter. Is there a way or has anyone used any product to replace this foam cushion. I'd like to do this myself and then recover with leather. Thanks for any suggestions.

[hr369]

I'm in the process of cleaning up my steering wheel. It had a worn out leather cover on it and when I removed the cover, I found out that the foam cushion on the wheel has an area about 5 inches long where the foam has peeled away, leaving the wheel about half the original diameter. Is there a way or has anyone used any product to replace this foam cushion. I'd like to do this myself and then recover with leather. Thanks for any suggestions.

Find another with the foam intact. Northern cars

Usually have less sun damage. That's the cheaper

Route. Google steering wheel rebuild I'm sure some guys

Have DIY. Pages for the more rare wheels

[cajunz]

Thanks for the advice, hr369. I'll see what I can find.

[Captain Obvious]

I'll trade you a 240 "wood" wheel or a Grant GT. :bulb:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread47775.html

[cajunz]

Thanks for the offer but I'd like to try and keep the original wheel if I can get it fixed.

[Captain Obvious]

I understand. I'm in the same boat. I picked up those other wheels and have since decided that I would rather have a better original than a 240 or aftermarket.

[EScanlon]

...snip... Is there a way or has anyone used any product to replace this foam cushion. I'd like to do this myself and then recover with leather. Thanks for any suggestions.

Since you mention that you want to recover the wheel after the foam repair, I might suggest a couple of ways of doing the repair.

I'm not familiar with the sponginess of the wheel you are referencing, so based on that, I can't point you to a specific product, but can point to a couple of products that would allow you to do the repair.

In R/C circles we have various grades of foam rubber that gets used from cowl gasketing on airplanes, hatch covers on boats and also start up box trestles for the aircraft tool boxes. You will find various thicknesses and hardness ratings.

Another place is the Bicycle shop, I used to buy handlebar tape that was foam (albeit very thin), but I recall that you could also get a THICK foam that wasn't already in the tube form (which just slipped over the metal handlebars) which required over-wrapping it with some of the thin foam or the vinyl skin.

Lastly, check the PIPE insulation department of your local hardware store, and I'm not refering to Lowe's or Home Depot. While the two larger box stores MAY carry the item, they won't have it out for you to look at and compare. They'll have it in a bag for you to buy 25 feet or so of it. Smaller shops like True Value and/or Ace sometimes have this available by the roll and you buy by the foot. Worth checking.

In any case once you've procured the replacement foam, you can either choose to recover the WHOLE wheel in the same thickness / hardness material, or just splice a piece in. If you splice, don't forget to glue the edges of the patch to the original piece to avoid a separation of the pieces when you squeeze them (this is a problem that sometimes happens when you do seat foam re-builds and you're bolstering one part with a different style/texture of foam).

FWIW

E

[cajunz]

EScanlon, thanks, those are some great suggestions. I had some of the pipe insulation from Lowe's but I don't think that would work so well. The handle bar tape is something that sounds promising. I think you could wrap the damaged area and then put a wrap or two around the rest of the steering wheel to cover the transition from the old foam and ther repair. I'll hit up the cycle shop tomorrow and see how it works. Thanks again.